Have Your Cake & Eat it Too!

Today's card features House Mouse stamps from a set by Stampendous called 'Birthday Splash'. I stamped the image and one of the sentiments onto a snippet of watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I cut the circle shape using one of my Nesties, then cut a matching scalloped circle mat from some aqua coloured card. I paired it with papers from the 'Geometrie' pad by Folia Paper...distressing all of the edges, before adding faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• As You Like It - Favourite Die (My circle Nesties - such a simple shape, but I could never cut one so neat by hand!)
• Crafty Calendar - Lots of Layers
• Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
• Elliebelle's Crafty Wednesday - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• House Mouse & Friends - Anything Goes (Optional 'Birthdays')
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Celebration Song

Today's card features a Penny Black mouse stamp called 'Celebration Song'. I stamped it onto watercolour paper, added a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Anytime Messages' set by Hero Arts, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. The stamp is fairly large, so I made an A5 sized card...picking a couple of papers from the 'Geometrie' pad by Foila Paper for the background. I distressed all of the edges, added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug, then matted the layers on to black card before adding adding it all to the card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Creative Knockouts - Real or Faux Stitching
• Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - Anything Goes
• Fab 'N' Funky - Have a MICE Day
• Seize the Birthday - Anything Birthday Goes
• We Love Stamping - Four-legged Friends

Boy Racer

Today's card features one of the pups from the 'Cheering Critters' set by Penny Black. I stamped him onto a snippet of watercolour paper, along with a sentiment from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company. I coloured him using watercolour pencils, then cut the circle shape, and matching blue scalloped circle, using one of my Nestabilities. For the background, I used snippets of yellow and blue papers. The yellow papers are from the 'Geometric' pad by Folia Paper, and the blue papers from the 'Prince Charming' pad by Recollections/Michales. I distressed all of the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• Little Red Wagon - Birthday
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Seize the Birthday - Anything Birthday Goes (Optional 'Layer It')
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Patterned Papers
• The Male Room - Geometric

PBSC January - Anything Goes (Optional - Something New!')

It's the first Saturday of the month, so that means it's time for a new Penny Black Saturday Challenge...where the theme is:

'Anything Goes'

or

'Something New'

As usual, we are sponsored by the awesome 1-2-3 Stitch:

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I went with 'New Year' as my Something New, and am sharing the calendar I made for my Mum for Christmas. Every year I decorate a couple of the Paper Mill blank calendars to give as gifts, and use exclusively Penny Black images. The panel on each month is A6 in size, and I used lots of snippets from a mixture of brands for the simple backgrounds. I distressed the edges of everything, and added some faux stitching to the papers using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I won't list the names of all of the images, or papers...partly because there are too many to list, but also because I can't remember and I'm not at home able to check!

I'm also entering this calendar into the following challenges:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Something New (New Year)

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

ABC Christmas Challenge - L & M are for?

We have a fun new ABC Christmas Challenge starting today...Marie is the host, and the themes are:

'L is for Lanterns'

&

'M is for Music'

The prize for the lucky winner is this cute 'Santa  Activities' die set from Sizzix & Olivia Rose:

For my 'L is for Lanterns' card, I used a Crafter's Companion stamp from the 'Moonbeam Meadow' collection called 'Christmas Delivery'. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, along with one of the matching sentiments, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. The papers are from a pad from The Works...I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

On my 'M is for Music' card, I used a Penny Black image from the 'Christmas Hugs' set, stamping it on to watercolour paper along with a sentiment from the 'Carolling Chicks' set by Stamping Bella, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. The papers are a mixture of Folia Paper 'Geomentrics' (the pink & stripey ones), and Poundland 'Pure Frozen' (the aqua snowflake one). I distressed all of the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

I'm also entering these cards into the following challenges:

• Christmas Cards All Year Round - Cats and/or Dogs (Second card only)
• Creative Knockouts - Two or More Patterned Papers
• Everybody Art - Three Patterned Papers (Second card only)
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Jingle Belles - At Least Three Different Papers (Second card only)
• Just Us Girls - Pink & Aqua (Second card only)
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Let the Music Play (Second card only)

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to the ABC Christmas Challenge.

PBSC June - Anything Goes (Optional 'Happy Birthday')!

It's the first Saturday of the month, so that means it's time for a new Penny Black Saturday Challenge...where the theme is:

'Anything Goes'

or

'Happy Birthday'

(In honour of the PBSC's 16th Birthday this month!)

As usual, we are sponsored by the awesome 1-2-3 Stitch:

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I picked '...to You!' as the image for my card...I love the way the cow's markings are part of the sentiment! I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. The papers are from the 'Geometrie' pad by Folia Paper (found at TKMaxx). I matted everything on to aqua card before adding it to the card blank.

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - Anything Goes
• Seize the Birthday - Anything Birthday Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

For more inspiration, please pop over to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

March Desk Calendar

Today, I'm sharing my desk calendar page for March. The image I've used is 'Hello World!' by Penny Black...I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils, before cutting the circle shape using one of my Nesties. The pink paper is from the 'Happy Colours' pad (from The Works) and the yellow paper is from the 'Geometrie' pad by Folia Paper...I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Fur or Feathers
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Bright Colours

February Desk Calendar

As it's the first of the month, I'm sharing my desk calendar page for February. The blank calendar is from Paper Mill Direct...and once again I'm going to us all Penny Black stamps...these ones are from the 'Every Which Way' set. I stamped them on to watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then cut the circle shape using one of my Nesties. For a simple background, I combined papers from the 'Vintage Dreams' pad by Craft Sensations (green) and 'Geometrie' pad by Folia Paper. I distressed all of the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - Stamps
• Moving Along with the Times - Love Hearts
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Have a Heart
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Stamps + Fun = Creativity - Anything Goes

PBSC January - Anything Goes (Optional 'Something New')

It's the third Saturday of the month, so that means it's time for some more inspiration for this month's Penny Black Saturday Challenge...where the theme is:

'Anything Goes'

or

'Something New'

(New Year, New Craft Stash, New Baby, New Home, New Job...)

As usual, we are sponsored by the awesome 1-2-3 Stitch:

Prize - a $20 voucher!

Now, if you saw my original 'Something New' challenge post a couple of weeks ago, you would be forgiven for thinking that I'm posting the same project...but this is a different calendar! This is the one I made for my Aunt for Christmas. The blank calendar is from the Paper Mill and I used a different assortment of Penny Black images on this one. I stamped all of the images on to watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then cut the circle and oval shapes using some of my Nesties. Again, I used lots of snippets of older papers to decorate each page...I distressed the edges of all of the papers, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

I'm also entering this calendar into the following challenges:

• Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes
• Fab & Funky - Stamp It
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Sparkles Forum - New Beginnings (New Year)

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

PBSC January - Anything Goes (Optional 'Something New')

It's the first Saturday of the month, so that means it's time for a new Penny Black Saturday Challenge...where the theme is:

'Anything Goes'

or

'Something New'

(New Year, New Craft Stash, New Baby, New Home, New Job...)

As usual, we are sponsored by the awesome 1-2-3 Stitch:

Prize - a $20 voucher!

For my 'Something New', I went with 'New Year' and am sharing one of the Penny Black calendars I made for Christmas gifts. I've been decorating some of these Paper Mill calendars for Christmas gifts since 2009, and each year use an assortment of Penny Black images, and lots of snippets of older papers to decorate each page. I stamped all of the images on to watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then cut the circle and oval shapes using some of my Nesties. I distressed the edges of all of the papers, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black or white gel pens.

I'm also entering this calendar into the following challenges:

• Krafty Chicks - Stamps
• Little Red Wagon - What's New?
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - A New Start
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Something New

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.